i think 'celebrities' are only as good as their lackies tell them they are - if you have a group of people paid to be around you, all telling you how amazing you are and generating the hype you are bound to believe the hype.
I saw the premier coverage and Gok Wan was embarassingly gushy to her - to the point im sure if she would have asked him to lick her manolo's he would have!! It only takes on person to coin a phrase like 'style icon', it catches on and everyone uses it whether they believe it or not, they even interviewed her stylist on the premier show, so its not her style to be iconised anyway!!